Introduction
Piracy has been difficult to deal with for the film fraternity. It has negatively affected its revenue collection as well as the impact of the content that a movie was supposed to deliver to its audience. Many film producers, filmmakers, cinematographers, etc. have been appealing to the government to take some decisions against piracy. Recently, the government has passed certain laws to deal with people promoting and carrying out piracy.
Digital piracy is theft or unauthorized copying or accessing someone else’s copyrighted content without their permission or approval. Digital piracy can include piracy of any content that can be available online. It includes movies, music, web series, TV serials, etc. Recently, due to the increase in the number of streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, the frequency of piracy has increased. This has occurred because these streaming apps charge their users with minimum streaming costs while the user’s account is created. The piracy websites provide free of cost content and luring the users away from such streaming apps is their main motive. These piracy websites sure do provide pirated content free of cost but they sure earn their revenue from the website links, pop-up ads and web direct that occur on such piracy websites.
About ‘pagalworld’
Among the other prevailing top pirated websites, Pagalworld is the one that stands out. This website is well known for providing pirated content across various genres. These include Bollywood, Hollywood, Punjabi, Marathi, etc. The reason why this website stands out from the others is that it also provides music content to be streamed and downloaded. The songs are available to be downloaded in mp3 and mp4 format. The movies available on the website are available to be downloaded in 1080P Quality, 720P Quality, 4K Quality, 2K Quality, 300MB Quality, 2GB – 1.5GB, 689MB – 1.5GB, 8GB – 6GB, 6GB – 2GB, 300MB, etc.
The availability of such content on the internet reduces its revenue and views by watching or listening to the said content traditionally. Providing free of cost services attracts users to use the site instead of going to a movie theatre for watching a newly released movie or purchasing a CD to listen to a newly launched song/album.
Movies Leaked by Pagalworld website
Pagalworld website has been responsible for leaking a number of digital content before it could officially be released. The website offers movie-related as well as music-related services. Some of its leaks include Darbar, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Chhapaak, Jai Mummy Di, Street Dancer, Good Newzz, Ghost Stories, Mardaani 2, Panga, Jawaani Jaaneman and many more. As it is a website for streaming and downloading music as well, some of the recent songs that were leaked on the site are Bhankas, Channa Ve, First Machayenge, Asal Mein, Daily Daily, Surma Surma, Rahogi Meri, Dus Bahane 2.0, Mehrama, Arey Pyaar Kar Le, Goa Beach, Tu Yaad Aya, Haye Ni Meri Moto, Hui Malang, Mere Liye Tum Kaafi Ho, Nachi Nachi, Phir Na Milen Kabhi, Haan Main Galat, Pyaar Tenu Karda Gabru, Hermosa and others.
The release of films online is not good for the revenue of the movie makers or for the message that they wanted to convey to their audiences. Also, there are some films that are meant to be watched in 3D or 4D sound and video. Piracy of such films in normal display ruins their special effects and the important role that they played in the movie.
Pagalworld in India
Pagalworld is a well-known pirated website in India that provides content from a vivid genre to its users. It includes movies and digital content from different film industries like Bollywood, Hollywood, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Odia, Gujarati, Bengali, Pakistani, etc. A number of domains that the website operates from are as follows,
PagalWorld.string
PagalWorld.malayalam
PagalWorld.buzz
PagalWorld.pakistan
PagalWorld.biz
PagalWorld.stream
PagalWorld.stark
PagalWorld.ag
PagalWorld.starm
PagalWorld.streak
PagalWorld.org
PagalWorld.arg
PagalWorld.or
PagalWorld.age
PagalWorld.proxy
PagalWorld.ch
There are certain domains of this website that the government of India has banned. However, as there are multiple domains available, it is still possible for users to view and access those domains for streaming and downloading purposes.
List of similar websites like pagalworld movie download site
There are a number of websites present on the internet that prove to be a platform for viewing and downloading the latest as well as the prior movies. Most of these sites are illegal to access as they provide pirated content which is a law violator and a criminal offense. Some of these sites are Ssrmovies, Filmy4wap, Mp4moviez, Moviespur, Moviescounter, Yts, Bollyshare, 1337x, Madras Rockers, 7starhd, Downloadhub, Teluguwap, Kuttymovies, Gomovies, Moviesda, Djpunjab, Bolly4u, Todaypk, Filmywap, 9xmovies, Filmyzilla, Jio Rockers, Tamilyogi, Worldfree4u, 123movies, Isaimini, Movierulz, Khatrimaza, Tamilrockers and many more.
What is the government doing to stop piracy?
Piracy has been a nuisance for the government to handle for the past few years. With the increasing rate of piracy, the revenue earned by films at the box office has been decreasing. This has led to huge amounts of losses to the film producers, cinematographers, makers and others working in the film industry. The government of India has introduced a Cinematographer Amendment Bill in the year 2019 and also amended the Cinematograph Act, 1952 which states that only certified and copyrighted films can be distributed and exhibited.
What will happen if I download movies Illegally in India?
Streaming or downloading pirated content is considered as a criminal offense in India and is a punishable act. There are a number of reasons as to why piracy has been prevalent in society. There are people of economic instability that cannot afford to go to the movie theatre and prefer to watch or download content from the internet.
There have been a number of streaming websites that have been launched for the users to have access to their favorite movies and TV shows. However, the membership cost of such websites may be too much for some people.
Piracy has been preying on people’s needs and requirements. People would prefer staying at home and watching a movie for free rather than waiting in line to get a ticket or having to pay the comparatively high price for just the ticket itself.
Piracy in the film industry can be in three forms; Video Piracy, Cable PIracy or DVD/VCD piracy. Video piracy is the process of creating, copying and redistributing a film in the form of video cassettes or tapes. Cable piracy occurs when copyrighted content is broadcasted onto the cable network without any approval or authorization of its owner. DVD/VCD piracy occurs when the copy of the film is recorded, copied and redistributed to the audience in the form of DVD and VCD tapes. All of these types of piracy drastically affect the revenue collected by a movie when it is released or before it is scheduled to be released.
The government has already banned around hundreds of websites and URLs that were responsible for carrying out or promoting piracy. Even despite banning the websites that provide pirated content, there are other ways of accessing that content. The pirated websites function from multiple domains for if in case a situation like banning the said website comes up. Some of these extensions include .com, .info, .un, .in, .uk and many more. Even after being banned, such websites keep creating new domains to carry out their activities.
Whatever the reason may be, using or promoting pirated content is considered to be illegal in India as per the Copyright Act of 1952 which states that only the copyright owners are permitted to exhibit or redistribute their creations. Anyone found to be doing so is liable to pay a fine that amounts to several thousand rupees and also must serve jail time as punishment for taking part in fraudulent activities. However, no such case has been officially recorded as the agencies holding the copyright claims of the content generally prefers to block the website that streams illegal content online.
Insert Image here
Even after piracy being an act of criminal offense, there haven’t been many cases reporting or taking action against such sites. One of the reasons behind this is that people don’t want to repeatedly go to the dates provided by the court, especially filmmakers. They’d rather have the website taken down and their content removed from it so that no other movie or any digital content would face the problems of piracy.
How can you stop digital piracy?
Digital piracy can be avoided but maybe not completely eradicated. There would somehow always be a way in which the piracy makers get a hold of the original content and violate its copyright policy by recreating and distributing its content. There are certain steps that can be taken to reduce the impact or the chaos that piracy causes for the movie business. Some of them are as follows:
Sharing Platforms: It is important to identify the online platform that has been supporting and providing users with pirated content. Taking down or banning such platforms can help reduce the presence of pirated content.
Anti-Piracy System: By installing and using anti-piracy systems, the government can keep a track of all the pirated activity that had been carried out over the internet and if someone is violating the copyright policy or not and then work to reduce it accordingly.
Cheaper Services: One of the major reasons for people choosing pirated content is the affordability of the original content. If the authentic content is available at an affordable price for everyone then no one would opt for choosing pirated content.
Website Blocking: Once the pirated websites are identified, banning them and prohibiting any of their activities can be a way of reducing piracy.
Fingerprinting: It is the process of creating digital fingerprints for copyrighted content. A database containing these authentic digital fingerprints is matched with the content being uploaded online. If it matches, then there is no harm done. However, if it doesn’t match then it means that the content is pirated.
Take Down Notices: The copyright owners are eligible to take action against anyone violating their ownership rights over content. This can be done by providing them with legal notices to take down the said content or their entire website.
PR & Education: There is a possibility that the user accessing such content may not be aware of it being pirated. It is important to educate people about the seriousness of the matter and help them by giving them apt advice.
Forensic Watermarking: It is another way of preventing piracy. A watermark may not be visible to the naked eyes but is layered within the frames so that the camera can catch it. The presence of a watermark in a cam recorded movie would reduce its quality and lead to less number of views.
Removing Incentives: There is a huge amount of entertainment tax that is applied to the people purchasing the tickets of a movie theatre or for using any of the services. This can be one of the reasons that lead to people usually trying to view content online instead of going to a movie theatre.
Conclusion
Piracy in any form is a criminal offense and the violation of any copyrights can result in serious punishment for the guilty. The punishment for the guilty can range from a fine to imprisonment, depending upon the seriousness of the committed crime. We do not recommend piracy nor do we support Piracy. The only way to mitigate the issues related to piracy is by making the general public aware of its limitations and the effect it causes on the lives of content creators. Most of the people take part in piracy without actually knowing about the concept. Thus, it is imperative that the government of India publishes and preaches about the limitations of piracy on a widespread basis.
